Innholdsfortegnelse for April/May 2021 i Cook's Country

SPICES BRING OUR food to life by adding flavor, fragrance, and texture (think spice-crusted steaks or herb-coated goat cheese). In the test kitchen, we define a spice as anything that comes from a plant that is dried and can flavor food. Herbs are often put in a category of their own, but we’ve included them in our guide (read the full version at CooksCountry.com/may21) because we use them often and in much the same way that we use spices. Whole versus Ground Grinding whole spices immediately before using them releases the volatile compounds that give them their flavor and aroma, so it’s a great way to get a lot of punch from your spices. Storing and Organizing Spices Location, Location, Location: When whole and ground spices are exposed to light,…

ROAST CHICKEN WITH SCHUG Serves 4 to 6 Total Time: 1¼ hours, plus 1 hour marinating For less spice, remove some or all of the seeds and ribs from the jalapeños. You can substitute plain whole-milk yogurt for the sour cream, if desired. If you’re breaking down the chicken yourself, a 4-pound whole chicken will yield the 3 pounds of pieces called for in the recipe. If you don’t have a broiler-safe 12-inch skillet, you can use a broiler-safe 13 by 9-inch baking pan. Plan ahead: The chicken needs to marinate for at least 1 hour before it is cooked. 1 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and stems3 ounces (about 2) jalapeño chiles, stemmed and roughly chopped¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil1 tablespoon grated lemon zest plus 2 tablespoons juice3…

IN THE NORTHEAST, where I live, asparagus is one of the first vegetables to burst forth from the just-thawed spring soil. I wanted to create a simple recipe to adorn this tender, grassy-tasting shoot in garlic butter. First, I selected larger stalks and browned them under the broiler to deepen their flavor and draw out their sweetness. Then I made a simple emulsion of garlic, butter, and water to create a thick, creamy sauce that clung to the broiled spears better and more luxuriously than plain garlic butter ever could. This sauce seems fancy, but it’s deceptively easy to make. BROILED ASPARAGUS WITH GARLIC-BUTTER SAUCE Serves 4 to 6 Total Time: 30 minutes This recipe works best with asparagus spears that are ¾ inch thick at the base. Do not…

FIRST THINGS FIRST: Slugburgers contain no garden slugs. Instead, they are made from ground pork and named for the original Depression-era price charged in Corinth, Mississippi, for them: five cents. A nickel. Aka a “slug” (see “Burgers Born of Thrift”). Slugburgers belong to the family tree of dishes, such as meatloaf, that were created by extending pricey ground meat with less expensive fillers. With the right proportions, you’ll experience no compromise in meat flavor or texture, and when the patties are fried in hot oil, as slugburgers are, well, you’ll have something unapologetically delicious. I wanted to make slugburgers at home, and after a few experiments, I found that they are very easy to make and well worth the minimal work involved. I started out with a pound of ground…

SHREDDINGIS A great way to make vegetables more interesting, as it transforms their texture and exposes more surface area to flavorings. Many of us grew up eating a sweet-and-sour shredded carrot salad studded with raisins. I wanted to make a similar salad but with livelier flavors and contrasting textures. Part of the beauty of carrots’ mild sweetness is that it works well in a variety of flavor schemes. So I scoured my kitchen for some powerhouse ingredients. I found that using potent fish sauce gave the dressing a salty, complex umami boost that amplified the flavor of the earthy, sweet carrot shreds. Serrano chiles, cut into thin rings, added a biting heat with good pepper flavor. Chopped fresh cilantro, mint, and scallions provided a range of fresh notes along with…

IN CULINARY TERMS, to “Florentine” something basically means to serve it with spinach in a creamy, cheesy sauce. As for the origins of the name, I’m not sure I believe it, but I appreciate the romance of the story: Catherine de’ Médicis of Florence, who was wild about spinach, married King Henry II of France and brought her spinach-loving ways to the cooks there. Thus was born the delightful custom of naming this particular spinach preparation “Florentine.” I’d never heard of pork Florentine, though, so I decided to make it happen. I wanted beautifully seared, juicy, well-seasoned pork; I wanted silky, tender, just-wilted, bright-green fresh spinach bathed in a complex, creamy sauce; and I wanted it all to be easy and fast. I began with my favorite quick-cooking cut of…

BOJANGLES, THE SOUTHERN fast-food chain, has a menu item I used to love called Bo-Berry Biscuits. These breakfast treats have the fluffy texture of a biscuit and the sweetness of a muffin and are studded with something called Bo-Berries (faux blueberries). I haven’t had these biscuits in many years, but I distinctly remember that the “berries” didn’t taste much like blueberries (to me, they tasted more like candy, or part of a sweet breakfast cereal). I loved them nonetheless. I’ve always had a sweet tooth, and the motivation of Bo-Berry Biscuits got me out the door many mornings throughout middle school. Inspired by my memories, I set off to make a recipe for blueberry biscuits. I wanted to be careful to keep these in the realm of fluffy biscuits, with…

IT’S A COLD, wet night after a hectic day at work. Even so, I’m starting to get excited for dinner because I know it’s chicken and rice tonight. Maybe it’s because I grew up eating an unbelievably simple and comforting version my mom made (literally just chicken legs, water, rice, salt, and pepper), but there’s just no other combination I find as fulfilling or fortifying as tender, braised chicken on a bed of rice that’s enriched with all the rendered fat and juices from the bird. But I know it’s not just me, because there are innumerable riffs on chicken and rice around the world: Puerto Rican arroz con pollo, New Orleans chicken and sausage jambalaya, Hainanese chicken and rice from China (or its close counterpart from Thailand, khao man…

FLATBREADS PLAY A vital role in many Middle Eastern cuisines, often served alongside full meals or as vehicles for dips or pools of fragrant extra-virgin olive oil. In Lebanon, mana’eesh are found both as a street food and as a specialty of dedicated bakeries. According to Maroun (Mario) Ellakis, owner of Mario’s Lebanese Bakery in Fall River, Massachusetts, they are eaten at nearly every Lebanese meal. A man’oushe (the singular form of mana’eesh) is typically topped with olive oil and the spice mix za’atar, a combination of sumac; thyme; sesame seeds; and sometimes oregano, coriander, cumin, and salt. In Lebanese, the word “man’oushe” means “engraved” and refers to the indentations in the bread made by tapping the dough with your fingertips just before baking it. This keeps the dough from…

Readying the Rhizome CUCUMBER AND GINGER are at the top of the list of refreshing, palate-cleansing ingredients. So why not combine them in a cooling salad? In the test kitchen, we know that once mixed with a salty dressing, cucumbers give up some liquid that dilutes the dressing. We sometimes salt sliced cucumbers before dressing them to remove that liquid up front, but I wanted this salad to be a simple toss-together affair. So I had to make the dressing potent enough that a little dilution from the cucumber liquid made it perfect. After tasting various vinegars and citrus juices, I landed on fruity cider vinegar whisked together with plenty of brown sugar, soy sauce, and a mix of extra-virgin olive oil and toasted sesame oil. I love the flavor…

ALTHOUGH STRAWBERRIES ARE delightful eaten out of hand—especially at the peak of ripeness in late spring—they become something truly sublime when baked into a dessert. Their flavor concentrates and intensifies as the liquid inside them cooks off. My go-to fresh fruit dessert is always a free-form galette. It’s everything that’s lovable about pie but with less fuss. But as with any baked fresh fruit filling, the juiciness of the fruit can cause some structural problems if left unchecked. This is especially so with strawberries, which seem to have hidden reservoirs of ruby juice within them. It’s all too easy to toss some strawberries with a bit of sugar, place them in the pastry, slide it all into the oven, and then come back to a strawberry lake overflowing your crust’s…

BORROUM’S DRUG STORE sits on a tidy stretch of East Waldron Street in Corinth, Mississippi, with an American flag waving out front. Inside, black-and-white checkered floors compete for attention with a wide array of local memorabilia. Red leather stools offer seating at the antique soda fountain, and there’s even an iron-clad manual cash register from 1926 that sends a “ca-ching” through the store when they ring you up. Originally opened as a pharmacy and soda fountain in 1865, Borroum’s has gained much of its present-day popularity for the slugburger, a combination of ground pork and a filler, typically soybean meal or corn or wheat flour, that was originally incorporated to stretch the meat to feed more people. The burgers, which Borroum’s started selling in the late 1970s, are deep-fried until…

POTATO SALAD CAN range from cold to warm, from tangy to mild. I wanted a version packed with plenty of herbs and bold flavors. My goal was a bright salad similar to a German- or French-style potato salad but with a not-so-secret ingredient: horseradish. Horseradish packs a spicy punch that creates an invigorating counterpoint to starchy potatoes. I found that 3 tablespoons of prepared horseradish in my dressing was enough to express this rowdy root. A spoonful of Dijon mustard reinforced the horseradish’s sharp message and helped emulsify the dressing. Because prepared horseradish already contains vinegar, I used a modest 2 tablespoons of lemon juice in my dressing. I set the potent dressing aside while I cooked my potatoes. I cut up 2 pounds of sturdy Yukon Gold potatoes and…

GRILLED TUNA STEAKS WITH SOY VINAIGRETTE Serves 4 to 6 Total Time: 50 minutes We intentionally omitted internal cooking temperatures for the tuna in this recipe because we found it hard to get a consistent reading without overcooking some of the fish. Instead, pay attention to the times in the recipe to achieve your desired doneness. We strongly suggest cooking the tuna to rare or medium-rare. Have everything ready before you start; the tuna cooks very quickly. Our Pickled Ginger (page 32) is a great accompaniment to this tuna. VINAIGRETTE ¼ cup soy sauce3 tablespoons cider vinegar3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil1 tablespoon mayonnaise1 teaspoon dry mustard1 teaspoon sugar TUNA 1 tablespoon sugar1 tablespoon kosher salt2 teaspoons pepper4 (8- to 12-ounce) skinless yellowfin tuna steaks, 1 inch thick1 tablespoon vegetable oil,…

Berry Precise Instructions FRUIT, SUGAR, AND not much else: A great strawberry compote should be as simple as that. But with so few ingredients, each one has to be treated with care. For my recipe to be successful—clear strawberry flavor and a pleasantly chunky consistency—I needed to dial in on three intertwined things: texture, taste, and time. For the jammy texture I sought, the type of fruit was paramount. Convenient and consistent frozen berries work fine in many recipes, but not here; frozen berries lost their structural integrity and didn’t deliver the chunky texture I was after. I had similar issues with strawberries that were too soft or had bruising. Instead, I chose fresh, firm, smaller berries that were free from any bruises. These held up the best, and springtime…

PICKLED GINGER Serves 8 to 10 (Makes one 8-ounce jar) Total Time: 20 minutes, plus 3 hours cooling The ginger should be refrigerated in its brine for at least 2 hours before serving, but letting it sit overnight is recommended. For the best flavor and texture, we recommend using fresh, young ginger, if available. Young ginger has thin, taut skin that can be easily scraped off with a spoon or paring knife. This pickled ginger cannot be processed for long-term storage. It’s important to slice the ginger as thin as possible; a mandoline does the best job of this. 4 ounces ginger, peeled½ cup unseasoned rice vinegar3 tablespoons sugar1½ teaspoons table salt 1. Fill one 8-ounce jar with hot water; set aside. Using mandoline, slice ginger paper-thin. 2. Bring ginger,…

SHOPPING If you want the good stuff, make sure to buy an authentic Parmigiano-Reggiano. The package label should tell you if it’s the real deal, but you can also find out by looking at the rind, which has telltale pinhole markings spelling out “Parmigiano-Reggiano” dozens of times, plus printing indicating the factory’s official Italian government ID, the dairy where the milk was produced, and the month and year of production. Determining authenticity is one reason to always buy an edge piece of Parmigiano-Reggiano. Another is that since the aging process of Parmesan works from the outside in, a big wheel of Parmigiano-Reggiano tastes most aged and complex near the rind. In our kitchen tests, we’ve found that there is a higher concentration of flavorful crunchy crystals near the rind, too,…

I ONCE DRESSED UP as half of shrimp and grits for Halloween. My best friend, Lauren, was the shrimp, and I was a bag of grits (you can take the girl out of the South …). I can’t actually remember the details, but this Halloween costume led to one of the only fights we’ve had as friends. I now refuse to be part of group Halloween costumes. Thankfully, Lauren and I have moved on from this argument (it was years ago), and shrimp and grits remain one of my favorite foods. And I believe it’s never too late to extend a nice gesture to a friend, so I wanted to make a recipe for shrimp and grits that was just enough to feed the two of us. We already have…